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    <h1>
        Snowflake Framework</h1>
    <p>
          Snowflake makes the life easier for each developer that is using LINQ To SQL as data access layer in his project. It's lightweight data access framework on the top of LINQ To SQL Framework. It follows the same ideas behind DataTable and DataRow in ADO.NET, but in entity context.
          Snowflake is an open source project freely available under the Microsoft Public License.  
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<p>
    &nbsp;</p>
<h2>
    Prerequisites</h2>
    <p>
        To run, Snowflake Framework requires .NET Framework version 3.5 SP1 to be installed
        on your system. You can install the latest version from Microsoft:</p>
    <ul>
        <li>
		<a href="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=AB99342F-5D1A-413D-8319-81DA479AB0D7&displaylang=en">
		Microsoft .NET Framework Version 3.5 SP1 Redistributable Package</a></li></ul>
    <p>
        Snowflake works only over Microsoft SQL Server.You can install the express edition of the latest SQL Server from Microsoft:
		<ul>
        <li>
		<a href="http://www.microsoft.com/express/sql/default.aspx">
		Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express Edition</a></li></ul></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><a name="BuilFromSource"></a>Building Snowflake Framework from Source</h2>
    <p>
        If you downloaded the binaries from
		<a href="http://snowflake.codeplex.com/">snowflake.codeplex.com</a><span style="color: #000000">, 
		you do not need to build it.&nbsp; </span>To compile Snowflake Framework from the source code, you can use either 
		MSBuild for Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, 
		or invoke Build\Autobuild.bat. </p>
    <h3>
        Building using MSBuild</h3>
    <p>
        The .NET Framework v3.5 comes with Microsoft's C# compiler and MSBuild utility.&nbsp; After installing the framework, open up a command prompt, 
		cd to the Snowflake directory (Bin Folder), and execute:</p>
		<i>Option 1</i>
		<blockquote>
		<pre>AutoBuild.bat</pre>
</blockquote>
<i>Option 2</i>
    <blockquote>
		<pre>MSBuild.bat Snowflake.build</pre>
</blockquote>

<p>This will build in the Bin folder Snowflake.Common.dll, Snowflake.Entity.dll and Snowflake.Gateway.dll.</p>

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